Audi S8 1998 Take it off the road notice

[Oldboy]

I am posting for a friend in WA. He received a notice a while ago that his car is fitted with Takata airbags, not safe, and that he should bring the vehicle in to have them changed, repaired or whatever they do. He contacted the dealer on and off for a year, them saying that they don't have the replacements in stock just yet.
This month he has just received a notice from Audi dealer advising that he should bring his car in, plus any spare keys and they would be taking the car off the road as there are no replacement airbags being made for this car.

He should leave the car with them, they will pay him market value for it.
It's no longer able to be registered.
Something seems very wrong here, the car is his pride and joy and he has no intention of giving it to them, he would rather park it up.
No compensation has been discussed at this point.
Has anyone else had this experience or heard of it and anyone have any solutions?
if true it will mean the end of these iconic vehicles.

thanks for your assistance Michael.

 

[jnrdavo]

Do a bit of a search and see if the steering wheel can be swapped with another model (say B6 A4).

Maybe reach out to this guy?
https://www.hazzydayz.com/genuine-audi-steering-wheel-upgrades-9688-p.asp

 

[IchBautAuto]

I am posting for a friend in WA. He received a notice a while ago that his car is fitted with Takata airbags, not safe, and that he should bring the vehicle in to have them changed, repaired or whatever they do. He contacted the dealer on and off for a year, them saying that they don't have the replacements in stock just yet.
This month he has just received a notice from Audi dealer advising that he should bring his car in, plus any spare keys and they would be taking the car off the road as there are no replacement airbags being made for this car.

He should leave the car with them, they will pay him market value for it.
It's no longer able to be registered.
Something seems very wrong here, the car is his pride and joy and he has no intention of giving it to them, he would rather park it up.
No compensation has been discussed at this point.
Has anyone else had this experience or heard of it and anyone have any solutions?
if true it will mean the end of these iconic vehicles.

thanks for your assistance Michael.

Echo what jnrdavo said. There is a lot of info on here and you just need to search it out. Also there is a recent post about another car that Audi ended up paying more than their original offer for.

I'm no solicitor but I'd suggest that AUDI have no rights to the car at all and in fact their approach may be legally misleading, the simple facts are that the Roads and Traffic of that state will refuse to re-register that car as it no longer meets the specs under which it was originally complied. I cannot see any evidence that a private person cannot own this car as an unregistered vehicle. Many cars in local museums may no longer meet the ADR requirements of their day and it matters not as they are static displays. Before getting acknowledgement that my A4 was in fact OK, I had planned to keep it as a source of spares for my RS4, as very many of the minor electrical and body car stopper parts that are NLA are identical.

I'd suggest that AUDI see the purchase for market value is a very cheap alternative to re-designing a replacement airbag for a 20+ year old car and do not want the car to be around, even unregistered, as any off road accident even on private property would reflect badly on the company.

On the steering wheel swap, you may not even need to think about an alternative car model, even later versions of your car model airbag may be compliant. AUDI have confirmed in writing that my takata airbag in a 6/2000 build A4 quattro is not effected by the Takata fault. It certainly doesn't mean that every airbag in a specific model lifespan is non compliant.